Baby P: local child abuse and care statistics

Where has the highest number of sexual abuse cases? How many children get taken into care? These are the latest figures
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Baby P. One year on, how have children been affected? AFP/Getty Images

It is twenty years since the government passed the 1989 Children Act and one year since Baby Peter's killers were convicted. Judging by the latest statistics, many lessons have still to be learned.

Referrals of vulnerable young people to councils' children's services departments have rocketed having previously been going down - while there has been a corresponding leap in the numbers of applications by local authorities to take children into care.

It took a while to manifest itself. Baby Peter died at the hands of his mother, her boyfriend and her lodger in August 2007, but the spike in care applications did not happen until after the court case in November 2008, which uncovered the scale of Baby Peter's neglect, abuse and the terrible circumstances of his death. Lord Laming's review of child protection in England, published on 12 March made clear that councils should err on the side of caution when deciding whether to begin care proceedings. Unsurprisingly, therefore referrals to children's services departments and applications to take young people into care have continued to rise steadily ever since.

But regional disparities are still apparent. Even accounting for population sizes, why is it that Birmingham, Lancashire, Hampshire, Kent and Leeds have the highest number of children with child protection plans due to sexual abuse, or that Birmingham has the most number of young people with child protection plans due to emotional abuse than the whole of the North East put together?

It could simply be that these areas have the most effective - or cautious depending how you look at it - children's services departments. Or other areas might be better at preventing abuse, thereby avoiding the need for more serious intervention in the future. Either way, the regional figures from the DCSF make for fascinating reading.

What do you think? Have we learnt anything since Baby P and the Children Act?